Chris Wiscarson, has weighed into the row over policyholders' compensation
saying that he "cannot support" the conclusions of the report into
the scandal.

Mr Wiscarson, who was appointed as chief executive of the group in 2009, has written to the Treasury minister, Mark Hoban, pointing out problems with the Chadwick Report, which suggested that victims should receive only a tenth of what they have lost.

"We cannot support the conclusions of a report which has objectives that appear to us quite different from what was anticipated by the Parliamentary Ombudsman," he said.

The long-awaited report, published on Thursday, gave a figure of between £400m and £500m as an indicative level for compensation. This works out at just £266 per policyholder. However, the report said that the total loss to victims was up to £4.8 billion. Mr Wiscarson said that the £4.8bn figure should be the foundation for compensation.

"We have never supported an approach which places store on the methodology used in calculating the lower ranges of numbers quoted by the minister," he said.

The report by Sir John Chadwick was commissioned by the previous Labour government, which did not accept all of the findings of an earlier report by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham. She found the government guilty of 10 counts of maladministration, but it accepted only five findings of maladministration in full; it accepted four in part and rejected one. The Chadwick Report was commissioned on that basis.

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However, the Conservative Party has said in the past that it would accept all of the findings from Ms Abraham's report.

On October 21, 2009, Mr Hoban, then in Opposition, told the Commons: "Conservative members have been clear throughout this process. We have said that if the ombudsman found that there was maladministration owing to regulatory failure and that compensation was required, we would accept those findings.That was our position while we campaigned for the ombudsman to be allowed a second investigation, that was our position when the ombudsman published her report last year, and that is our position today."

Sources close to Equitable Life said the management was concerned that the new Government has now not accepted the 10 findings of maladministration.

Instead, documents relating to a new independent commission, indicate that it is proceeding with the same assumptions as the Labour Government. Objective 6 of the document states that the aim of the Commission is to allocate funds to those who have suffered "relative losses as a result of accepted Government maladministration", suggesting that the new Government will not accept the rest of the findings either.

A spokesman for the Treasury said that this was because of the need to get compensation to victims quickly.

"The Coalition Government's priority is to establish a fair and transparent payment scheme that is as swift as possible, as was recommended by the Parliamentary Ombudsman . Re-opening the findings of the Ombudsman would lead to delays in achieving this," she said.